Gristmill

How’s your air?

Via MetaEfficient, check out Scorecard, the Pollution Information Site. You can type in your zip code and find out the air quality (and much more pollution data) where you live, including a map of pollution sources and comparisons to national averages. Very handy. Oh, and scary.

Here's the pollution situation where I live. The top polluter in my county is Rexam Beverage Can Co. The top chemical pollutants are glycol ethers. We've got two Superfund sites polluting our water.

How's your home turf doing?

Clean-Energy Trends 2005

I'm way behind in my blogginess, thanks to that other full-time job I have, so forgive me as I catch up on stuff that's (gasp!) up to two days old.

Check out the report from Joel Makower and Clean Edge on "Clean-Energy Trends 2005" (PDF). Says Joel:

It offers ten-year projections for key clean-energy markets, examines factors that are influencing clean-energy markets and venture investments, and offers five trends we find noteworthy.

Here are the five trends:

• the growth of fuels from biomass in the U.S. and Europe
• the growth of energy efficiency due to high energy prices
• the resurgence of electricity generated by concentrated solar power stations
• the emergence of the hydrogen infrastructure
• how the growth of green buildings is stimulating markets for new products and technologies

Joel's got more.

Nice genes

In more strange news from nature (see: pandas peeing, bats running): It seems that plants store genetic information from generations past, and can use it to fix oddities they've inherited directly. Scientists -- who began to cotton on to the phenomenon when a weed expected to produce mutant flowers bloomed normally instead -- aren't entirely sure what to make of this news, but they think it could help fight diseases in plants, and might give a hint of human possibilities as well.

As genetics professor Gerald Fink told the Washington Post (in a quote that has made me love him), "something weird is definitely going on."

The Agency

The Onion is, as always, amusing.

Sky Blue

It is the year 2142. Earth has suffered severe ecological damage due to billions of humans inhabiting the planet. The sky is black and acid rain has been pouring down for a century.

Fortunately, for some, a sanctuary was constructed: Ecoban, a living city genetically engineered to house an elite society. As with many cities, Ecoban exists thanks to the tireless work of an impoverished underclass -- the Diggers. But the very city that they strenuously work to keep alive is killing them. Mercury and sulfur are poisoning their environment, and children are being born blind. So it is up to Ecoban's creator, along with a group of rebel Diggers, to restore balance to the world, to once again see the blue sky -- but at the cost of Ecoban and its inhabitants.

States of grace, states of confusion

Which states use the least gasoline?  Which ones have the best gas-conservation trends? Probably not who you'd think, at least for the latter question.

Based on Federal Highway Administration data covering 2001 through 2003, residents of New York State use the least gasoline, person for person, of any U.S. state: about 0.8 gallons per person per day, vs. the national average of 1.2 gallons per person. That's to be expected: New York City--which makes up a sizable chunk of the state's population--is among the densest cities in the country, which allows many of its residents to get by perfectly well without cars, except for the occasional taxicab.

The runners-up to New York were: Hawaii--with high priced gas and surprisingly dense Honolulu--at .9 gallons per person per day; Rhode Island--dominated by urban Providence--at one daily gallon per capita; and Illinois--which has a significant share of residents in urban Chicago and its dense inner suburbs--with 1.1 gallons. Oregon, Washington, and Idaho rank 8th, 12th, and 17th, respectively, in per capita gas consumption; but all three states are close to the national average.

The states that use the most gas are either predominantly rural, have particularly sprawling cities, or both. Wyoming residents use the most gasoline (1.8 gallons per person per day), followed by residents of Georgia, South Carolina, and Vermont at about 1.5 gallons per capita.

Now, for the trend lines -- over the long term, which states are going in the right direction? If you guessed Nevada, you hit the jackpot.

Journalistic balance at Scientific American

OMFG. You have to read this note from the editors of Scientific American. It is a thing of beauty.

Neon lights will shine for you

Here in the Northwest, this winter's lack of rain and snow has people muttering about two things: the inevitable drought this summer, and the lack of good skiing right now. Welp, enterprising ski bums in countries including England, Japan, and the Netherlands have found a way around this exact problem: indoor slopes.

Oddly, the U.S. has managed to survive without this concept -- until now. Xanadu, an impossibly gigantic indoor theme park planned for New Jersey's Meadowlands, will include such a hill (and also a chocolate waterfall, but I digress). Despite critics who say the project will damage wetlands, increase traffic, and cause air pollution, the complex got a go-ahead permit last week.

Life is never simple in Jersey, though. A whole brouhaha having to do with nearby Giants stadium might slow things down, giving opponents another chance to howl. Stay tuned.

Diesel or hybrid? How about both?

Wired News has reported that General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford are working on diesel-hybrid prototypes.

According to Charlie Freese, executive engineering director at GM Powertrain:

... many factors that make diesel engines more efficient include operating unthrottled and more efficient oxidizing of fuel. Diesel engines also have a higher compression ratio, and the heavier diesel fuel has a higher energy density ... diesel and hybrid technologies have synergies because hybrid systems reduce fuel consumption by relying on the electric motor while idling and during acceleration of stop-and-go traffic. Diesel engines are optimized for hauling heavy loads and for steady-speed highway driving.

Now, longtime Grist readers will know that Umbra has had some harsh words when it comes to diesel (but not biodiesel and SVO though). While responding to a reader asking if a higher gas mileage diesel car is better than a less-particulate-emitting gasoline engine, she offered the following analogy:

Let's recall some stale high school stereotypes: the cruel football player and the catty cheerleader. Diesel oil is the football player -- big, strong, lunk-headed, unwashed, and mean. Gasoline is the cheerleader: slimmer, well-groomed, and socially manipulative. They're both toxic to the school atmosphere, but people are more inclined to avoid the bully, because he is more immediately physically hazardous.

Umbra sums up her article by saying, "... all diesel cars are considered 'inferior' in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's Green Book." But what would Umbra think of a diesel hybrid engine? Here's what Dan Benjamin, an analyst at ABI Research, had to say:

"Can hybrid engines help (reduce) diesel emissions? Absolutely," Benjamin said. Although diesel vehicle manufacturers will likely add filters or catalytic converters to reduce emissions, "hybrid systems can cut emissions by eliminating situations where NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions are at their very worst," according to Benjamin. Meeting California's tougher emissions requirements, which have been adopted by four other states, presents more of a challenge, Benjamin said.

So maybe those nasties Umbra is worried about won't be as much as a concern. What say you?